HiveBuzz World Cup 2022 - Can Morocco Survive Against Croatia? - Let's Hope It's A DRAW - [23 Nov]

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Here comes my third prediction post on HiveBuzz World Cup 2022 contest. The match I choose is Morocco vs Croatia on 23 November 2022. This is similar to my previous prediction of Argentina vs Saudi Arabia (which the match gave a horrible result) Most people say that this will be a one sided match, Croatia will win easily. In general I believe Croatia is a lot better team than Morocco and I can't see how Morocco can win against Croatia... However I am guessing that A DRAW is the most likely result that we will see today/tomorrow.

KEY POINTS OF MATCH PREDICTION

1. THE GAP IN QUALITY

Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan), Ivan Perisic (Tottenham) are the biggest name in Croatia Squad. Not only them, all the other Croatia players are the main team of big club, lets spill some more : Mario Pasalic (Atalanta), Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim) and many more

On Morocco team, we see Achraf Hakimi one of the best side back in the world, we see Hakim Ziyech who plays important role in Chelsea UEFA Champion League Winner 2021. The rest? All are good but not as good as Croatia players. To put this worse, They just newly appointed a new coach a few months ago and people questioning whether they have time to adapt or not.

With this condition definitely people won't bet on Morocco. Definitely they will lose, however the second key point below has changed my prediction.

2. AGE GAP, RISING VS DECLINING

The Age difference between Marroco and Croatia is too big. Let's see Croatia core players: Luka Modric (37 years), Ivan Perisic (33 years), Dejan Lovren (33years), and many 30+ years players. They have some new blood coming into the team, one of the best one is their Central Defender Josko Gvardiol (20 years). He is a great players however he is too young to lead their backline.

Overall this Croatia team is almost the same team that got onto World cup final and beaten by France 4 years ago, however they key players are still the same and now they are not young anymore, precisely they are old. I think this team has declined due to aging, you can't deny that. So no matter how good they were a year ago, or two years ago or 4 years ago, this team definitely has got worse and worse as time progresses.

The opposite is happening to Morocco. Their key players : Achraf Hakimi (24 years), Hakim Ziyech (29 years), Nayef Aguerd (24 years), Noussair Mazraoui (25 yers) are in their prime age. They are better than last year during the African Cup. This team is still rising, their play gets better as they get more experience and their physical prowess are in top due to the proper age.

So this is why I call a Draw as my prediction. I see this match as Old uncle team vs bunch of youths. I think Croatia although has all the advantages, they will struggle to keep their gameplay against militant fast paced team like Morocco.

MAN TO WATCH - ACHRAF HAKIMI

The name of Achraf Hakimi should be very familiar for you who are a Football Addicts. He was a wonderkid raised in Real Madrid academy and now he is playing for Paris Saint Germain together with big names such as Kylian Mbappe, Neymar Jr and Lionel Messi.

Currently he is 24 years old and he has already achieved these thropies:

  • UEFA Champion League Winner - 2x with Real Madrid
  • Germany Super Cup Winner - 2019/2020 with DortMund
  • Seria A League Winner - 2020/21 with Inter Milan
  • Ligue 1 Winner - 2021/22 with Paris Saint Germain

He has plenty of other trophies too and many personal awards but I won't list them all here.

For me, He is the best right back in the world. His main weapon is SPEED, he run very fast and he holds the fastest footballer record in Bundesliga with the speed 22.49 mph (36.20 km/h) in Dortmund's match against RB Leipzig season 2019/2020. So if you think Bayern Munich Left Back Alphonso Davies runs very fast outpaced many of his opponents, guess what? Davies rank 11th and Hakimi is still ranked 1st.

Speed is not only what he is great about, he are excells at several points too which are:

  1. Vision and Creativity. Most flank players when join in attacks only have one pattern, neither cut inside, or go wide. Achraf Hakimi can do both and will do both, depending on how he sees the team will need him to do what things.
  2. Composure. When Hakimi gets into the box, you can see him shooting or crossing with a good precision. he isn't just kicking the ball hard, he always try to scan any possibility from passing and shooting or dribbling, then he does it.
  3. Defensive Skills. Although he is an attacking side back, his defensive skills are top notch. He might be one of best tackler in the world. Most attacking side backs get criticized for poor defending play. Luke Saw and Trent Alexander-Arnold are the example of it, you can see how many critics they get for being poor at defense. However this is a different case for Achraf Hakimi, he is an excellent defender. No matter how many times he moves forwards, he can get back on time, be at the right position, marks his opponent and make great tackles.

CLOSING AND CREDIT

This post is made as my participation in HIVBUZZ WORLDCUP CONTEST x OCD, which the more detailed one can be found here: https://peakd.com/@hivebuzz/wc2022

I have cited all material sources and I hope there's none that breached any License or Copyright. Materials that I have not cited mostly are the property of @hivebuzz. If in any case I unintentionally breach any copyright or license, do let me know and I will apologize and remove them a.s.a.p. Football, specially during World Cup are full of license from big businesses, so sometime we need to be extra careful not to offend any of them.

I would like to thank you to this HIVEBUZZ WORLD CUP event's sponsors:

you guys ROCKS!!



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5 comments
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LoL, I forgot to add beneficiary 😂🤣

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